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Friday 28 January 2022

I’m Liz Truss, Fly Me

Inflation is eating remorselessly into household budgets, especially for those families at the bottom of the pile. Universal Credit top-ups have been withdrawn. A tax increase for just about everyone in work is imminent. So, when it comes to those long distance trips by air, what would a sensible Government minister have done? What would someone showing that “we are all in this together” have done? What would Nietzsche have done?

Liz Truss ...

That nagging thought, that ministerial travel is paid for by We The People out of our taxes, might have eaten away at most citizens, but today’s Tory Party, led as it is by alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, who appears unconcerned at spaffing the odd million or several up the wall, is different. And so we arrive at the recent globe-trotting exploits of Liz Truss, who has somehow become Foreign Secretary.

Ms Truss recently travelled to Australia. But she did not lower herself to slumming it with the Hoi Polloi on BA, Emirates or Qantas. Instead, she used the Government’s second “Brexit Jet”, an Airbus A321 which has been suitably re-liveried for the role. When news of this largesse emerged, the usual spin was deployed: it was necessary for security purposes, she and her team could sit together, and it was just sitting there at Stansted.

... not only used this A321 VIP aircraft ...

But then the story was examined in a little more detail, and it got worse: the A321 is not a long-haul design, and so would have to make at least two refuelling stops between the UK and Oz, which on the return journey were Kuala Lumpur and Dubai. The Government does not own the aircraft; it is wet leased from Titan Airways and is costing the taxpayer (that means you and I) a cool £75 million. For a lease claimed to be lasting just two years.

An A321 could be bought outright for £79 million, and would be available for all of its design life. Worse still, it seems there was no competition, as Andy Northwood (thread HERE) pointed out last August. “The Cabinet Office … used an existing contract with a Bradford-based travel agent called Corporate Travel Management (North) Ltd … Onto this they tacked a £75M(!) amendment to provide the VIP A321 for the next 2 years”.

... but also this privately chartered RJ-85

This temporary addition to the Government flight, though, is not the only exhibition of largesse from Trussair. The Foreign Secretary recently visited Northern Ireland, but somehow all those scheduled services weren’t good enough for her. No, she went by private charter, from Biggin Hill, on an Avro RJ-85 of Jota Aviation.

Who they? As one observant Tweeter pointed out, “Truss is flying by Jota Aviation which is owned by Simon Dolan, the keen anti-mask, anti-lockdown champion who bought the court action against lockdowns … A keen Brexiter who moved to Monaco and moved Jota to Europe”. So Trussair is keeping it all in the happy Brexiteer family.


Meanwhile, those browsing the websites of Ryanair and Easyjet for the least expensive options for their next trip to southern Spain or the Algarve might have something to say about such profligacy. The excuse deployed when an A330 was re-liveried for Government use was that it also served as a refuelling aircraft, so the £900k cost was not such bad value for money. That A321, and continuing use of private charters, may not be.

They party during lockdown, use taxpayer-funded cars, have Government residences in the country, fly on their own executive jets, and take us all for mugs. Same old Tories.


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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Remember all that bullshit when Truss was in charge of trade and there was that Twitter comments about how she was going to sit her Aussie counterpart in an uncomfortable chair for hours on end until we'd get a great deal? Rememeber when the Aussies complained and poured scorn on the statements and Truss's lot ran for cover sounding like the sad pathetic losers they are? How did that trade deal work out for the UK? Who got the better end of it? Thats right, the Aussies, not the UK - so much for all the tough talk!

If you think Johnson is bad, wait until you get Truss ...

She will be worse than Johnson when it comes to smirking, smart-arsed hypocrisy, rule breaking, free loading and giving jobs and cash to her mates

At least Sunak has some "professionalism", Truss doesnt even have the ability to be an amateur

Unknown said...

Ever fond of changing her mind, the brexiter's remainer said while in opposition (2007)

She said: “Every public sector worker should feel personal responsibility for the money they spend and the money they save.

“They should spend taxpayers’ money with at least the care they would give to their own. This change of mindset would be reflected in everyday changes such as travelling by economy rather than business class.”

Anonymous said...

No problem with a wholly owned and maintained aircraft for serious government use. That is economically efficient. But not the usual "out-sourced" ripoff profiteering....which is not economically efficient.

The problem is a gormless meff like Truss and other dysfunctional spiv-clowns from the Bozo Circus.

david walsh said...

Titan Airways do the Government's naughty work as well as the nice. Their branded fleet aircraft used by the Home Office do repatriation runs for so called 'failed' asylum seekers. Good to know that as you are bundled out of the country in which you sought refuge that you do so in a suitably branded jet....

Mr Larrington said...

Cheesoid's utterance during the EUReferendum campaign, viz.

“I don't want my daughters to grow up in a world where they need a visa or permit to work in Europe, or where they are hampered from growing a business because of extortionate call costs and barriers to trade. Every parent wants their children to grow up in a healthy environment with clean water, fresh air and thriving natural wonders. Being part of the EU helps protect these precious resources and spaces.”

needs to be dragged out and used to beat the dopey creature about the head at every opportunity.

Ferdy Fox said...

Nice to see them exploiting their green credentials........

Steve Woods said...

At one time under the assisted passage migration scheme, one could travel to Australia for a £10 single fare.

A quarter of a million for Truss and her entourage (total no. 14) just shows how inflation is getting out of hand.

Mind you, a quarter of a million to rid this country of a useless secretary of state would be money well spent.

Anonymous said...

Liz Truss?

I'd rather hump me fist.....

Mr Larrington said...

Sinister Agent T, ex-RAF, former Airbus pilot and Knower of All Things Pertaining to Aviation, reckons the cost of a dry-lease on a 747 is of the order of £750k/month. Even taking into account the difference between dry- and wet-leasing no-one in their right mind would pay more than four times as much for an aircraft half the size of a 747. But then again, Agent T also wryly notes “£37 billion for test'n'trace…”